The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and consulting editor Karan Thapar in connection with an FIR filed by Assam Police over a news article.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi issued the order on a plea by the Foundation for Independent Journalism (FIJ), which owns The Wire along with Varadarajan.
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, representing the journalists, alleged that Assam Police was attempting to bypass previous court directions. Despite interim protection granted in an FIR registered by Morigaon Police, new summons were issued by the Guwahati Crime Branch in another case, she argued.
She further informed the bench that the journalists had been summoned on Friday regarding an older FIR filed in May and expressed fear of arrest. When she raised concerns about possible additional FIRs and threats of arrest, the bench assured her, saying, “We are watching.”
The court directed the journalists to cooperate with the investigation and submit a status report before the next hearing while reiterating that everyone is expected to follow the law.
Earlier, on August 12, the top court had restrained Assam Police from taking coercive action against Varadarajan in connection with an FIR related to an article on Operation Sindoor.
The first FIR, lodged on May 9 by the Guwahati Crime Branch, invoked Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (acts endangering sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India) and cited 14 interviews and articles. No significant action was taken on this case until August.
Subsequently, on July 11, Morigaon Police filed another FIR against Varadarajan and The Wire for a June 28 report regarding an Indian defence attaché’s statement on the loss of Indian aircraft in Sindoor. The court had already granted protection in that case.
The latest summons related to the May FIR prompted the journalists to seek relief again, resulting in the Supreme Court extending protection to them and the news portal.
